Kate W
Grumbler in Training
We are looking for picture framing POS software recommendations! What do you use and how has it helped your business? Pros/cons? Cost?
We are a small mom-and-pop-shop retail store with a custom frame shop. We have a handful of framers with various levels of experience and naturally we are trying to be as efficient and cost-effective as possible. I have been a custom framer for 10 years and I personally have never used a custom framing POS system. I am looking for your recommendations. I'm always happy to learn what other framers do to make their shop more efficient!
In the past we have used hand written/paper carbon-copy work order forms. Recently we have switched to using an Excel spreadsheet to take down orders. The digital files are a huge step up from paper copies, since we can search and retrieve past orders (thank goodness), and that largely works well for us. However, (in this current economic climate) we are looking for software that ideally would automatically price orders for us using up-to-date/live pricing. Up until now we have been pricing projects manually with pen/paper and a price chart, which is cumbersome, time consuming and prone to human error/discrepancies. What we need most is live pricing updates. With several vendors rolling out price increases 3x times this year alone, we simply cannot keep up with manually pricing every single sample we have on the wall and printing a new price chart every few months.
Of course we would also want to be able to save and retrieve customer info.
Another bonus would be if the software could put guardrails on new orders. For example, if a framer takes down an order for an oversize mat in a color that does not come oversize. Or if we input an order for a frame that is on back-order or discontinued. Another example, if a framer inputs an order for a joined frame that is too large to ship from the vendor (won't fit on their truck) or too small to chop. Some vendors will only chop frames above 5 or 6 inches. If a framer inputs an order for a joined frame to measure 4 3/4" ideally it would notify us that the material won't be available to be chopped at that size and we can discuss alternatives with the customer while they are still with us in the store rather than having to call back later to change their order. Yes, of course, our framers should know these guidelines by now (!) but human error is always going to be a factor. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Is there software that has these features? What do you use and what do you recommend? I appreciate the insight!
We are a small mom-and-pop-shop retail store with a custom frame shop. We have a handful of framers with various levels of experience and naturally we are trying to be as efficient and cost-effective as possible. I have been a custom framer for 10 years and I personally have never used a custom framing POS system. I am looking for your recommendations. I'm always happy to learn what other framers do to make their shop more efficient!
In the past we have used hand written/paper carbon-copy work order forms. Recently we have switched to using an Excel spreadsheet to take down orders. The digital files are a huge step up from paper copies, since we can search and retrieve past orders (thank goodness), and that largely works well for us. However, (in this current economic climate) we are looking for software that ideally would automatically price orders for us using up-to-date/live pricing. Up until now we have been pricing projects manually with pen/paper and a price chart, which is cumbersome, time consuming and prone to human error/discrepancies. What we need most is live pricing updates. With several vendors rolling out price increases 3x times this year alone, we simply cannot keep up with manually pricing every single sample we have on the wall and printing a new price chart every few months.
Of course we would also want to be able to save and retrieve customer info.
Another bonus would be if the software could put guardrails on new orders. For example, if a framer takes down an order for an oversize mat in a color that does not come oversize. Or if we input an order for a frame that is on back-order or discontinued. Another example, if a framer inputs an order for a joined frame that is too large to ship from the vendor (won't fit on their truck) or too small to chop. Some vendors will only chop frames above 5 or 6 inches. If a framer inputs an order for a joined frame to measure 4 3/4" ideally it would notify us that the material won't be available to be chopped at that size and we can discuss alternatives with the customer while they are still with us in the store rather than having to call back later to change their order. Yes, of course, our framers should know these guidelines by now (!) but human error is always going to be a factor. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Is there software that has these features? What do you use and what do you recommend? I appreciate the insight!
